Karmelo Anthony’s defense team rested on Monday without the teen taking the stand — making his self-defense claim much harder to win, a veteran Texas attorney said.
The move risks the jury not even being allowed to consider self-defense when deliberating, because the 19-year-old’s lawyers never outright acknowledged that he fatally stab Austin Metcalf, 17, at a track meet in Frisco, Texas, in 2025.
That acknowledgment is often a key component of self-defense trials in Texas, said defense lawyer Jeremy Rosenthal, who is based in Collin County, where the trial is taking place.
“To get a self defense charge you have what tis called a ‘burden of production.’ You have to show through your own evidence that you do not contest the conduct,” said Rosenthal.
The baffling move may be a gambit to convince the jury to hand Anthony a lesser manslaughter charge in lieu of first-degree murder.
The defense can request the jurors be allowed to consider manslaughter before closing statements begin on Tuesday.
Here’s the latest on Karmelo Anthony’s murder trial following the fatal stabbing of Austin Metcalf
“Those negotiations are probably happening right now,” Rosenthal said.
“Not having Mr. Anthony testify potentially narrows some pathways to acquittal. The right to testify or not is exclusively the defendant’s. The closing argument will tell us if there is a bigger strategy here and exactly what that is.”